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Show HILLTOP TIMES ICBM maintenance crews train for field By AIRMAN 1ST CLASS DILLON JOHNSTON 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs M ALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. — When it comes to ensuring the United States' intercontinental ballistic missiles are ready at a moment's notice, an essential piece to the puzzle is proper maintenance on its communications network. This is where the 341st Missile Maintenance Squadron Missile Communications training section comes into play. Using a one-of-a-kind training vault, personnel are able to provide a realistic training environment to better prepare missile maintenance Airmen for what they will experience in an actual launch control center (LCC), as well as the wires and conduits stretching across the 13,000 square miles of Montana real estate the missile fields cover. "Each base has their own trainers, but periodically we have hosted folks from Vandenberg Air Force Base (California) here for some special training," said Bernie Marinaccio, a 341st MMXS missile radio instructor. "They'll come here because we have the better trainer over the other two (missile) bases." The training facility was made possible by utilizing parts and equipment left over from the decommissioned 564th Mis- sile Squadron. The result is a near-replica of an LCC, complete with almost all of the functioning communications systems, ranging from radio to hard-wired communications found in the field. "It's still a work in progress and there's still a lot to do, but we have four of our five communications systems operational in our trainer," Marinaccio said. By using an on-base trainer, it reduces trips to the field, thus limiting the time missions are put on hold. This keeps LCCs active for longer periods of time, while still providing critical training. "The more we can do on base, the better quality training we can give (missile communications members)," said Bob Fick, a 341st MMXS missile satellite instructor. "We don't have a time limit; we're not interrupting an operational mission, so we can take our time and explain things better. "It's just a better scenario," he added. Because of new demands on the maintenance personnel, training days for new members of the squadron have jumped from 80 to 120 days, cramming in extra proficiencies and combining jobs done previously by other shops, making each technician a more vital asset. "We have taken on about another 100 (training) tasks within the last six months," Fick said. Hilltop TIME S February 5, 2015 5 7 • / ,,,, 4, AIRMAN 1ST CLASS DILLON JOHNSTON/U.S. Air Force Bob Fick, 341st Missile Maintenance Squadron missile satellite instructor, explains the functions of communications equipment in a launch control center trainer at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., Jan. 20. Fick uses the trainer to familiarize 341st MMXS Airmen with how they will work in the missile field. "They determined that it would be better for us to do the whole mission, much like the old communications squadron did." Previously, it would have required lengthy trips to the missile field, but having an on-base trainer allows Fick and Mari- naccio to rapidly educate 341st MMXS members on the new tasks, reducing training time significantly, and improving and bulking up the force of ready maintainers. The trainer is constantly being improved and added to, with a major addition expected to be completed later this year. "There's another big piece to the puzzle, which hopefully we're going to get completed in the spring," Fick said. "There is one task that we cannot do on base — a periodic servicing of an antenna. If we get that set up here as a trainer, all the guys that weren't able to be involved in the training last year out in the field, we'll be able to train them all on base." MAPS, PREL achieve 100% availability of work cages motor is locked into a rail around the top of the tube, 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs while a two-person basket ALMSTROM is suspended from the moAIR FORCE tor by cables. The GMMP BASE, Mont. — allows technicians to A1117 of the 341st Missile traverse the narrow space Wing's guided missile around the missile as high maintenance platforms as 70 feet from the bottom became available for field of the tube. use Jan. 14, according to Lt. "It is a piece of life-supCol. John Briner, the 341st port equipment, so inspecMissile Operations Squadtions are a lot more detailed ron commander. This feat than for most equipment," is unprecedented in recent Braun said "It has to be memory. impeccable because someCommonly known as a one's life is hanging from "work cage," the GMMP this basket." achieved 100 percent The wing typically needs availability, marking a sigup to 12 operable GMMP nificant achievement that units to fulfill daily maintecapstones efforts by Air nance and training requireForce Global Strike Comments, Braun said. Two mand and the depot at Hill GMMPs are taken to every maintenance task requirAir Force Base. Addressing the sustainment issues ing a work cage, in case with this essential piece one unit fails and a rescue of equipment, the GMMP operation becomes necesrepair was one of 32 actionsary. Additionally, training able items identified for requires two GMMPs. The missiles through AFGSC's wing operates 150 launch Force Improvement Profacilities, and with multiple gram last year. maintenance jobs each day It also highlights the throughout the complex, the work cages are in high demand. A dwindling supply of replacement parts made it increasingly difficult for MAPS and PREL to keep the minimum number of work cages ready. The problem was compounded when stress fractures from years of use were found last year in many of the cast aluminum frames that support GMMP motors. "At that point, it becomes condemnable," Braun said "The supply JOHN TURNER/U.S. Air Force system had run out, so there was no support for Tech. Sgt. Robert Richards and Airman 1st Class that said piece of equipBenjamin Vlietstra look over a guided missile ment. We had to make maintenance platform motor on Jan. 21 at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. All 17 of the 341st Missile Wing's more equipment unserviceGMMPs — also known as work cages — were available able and we were down to maybe three or four work for service Jan. 14, ensuring that missile maintenance cages going through the in Minuteman III launch facilities stays on schedule. spring." Richards is a mechanical and pneudraulics section By summer, the lack of team chief and team trainer, and Vlietstra is a power, serviceable GMMPs had refrigeration and electrical laboratory technician with caused a backlog of mainthe 341st Maintenance Operations Squadron. By JOHN TURNER M continued dedication of the 341st MOS's mechanical and pneudraulics section (MAPS), the unit responsible for inspecting, certifying and repairing the mechanical components on the work cages. The squadron's power, refrigeration and electrical laboratory (PREL) made the repairs to the GMMP's electrical components. The two sections work closely to keep the work cages serviceable. "We're really proud of what we've accomplished as a team," said Master Sgt. Michael Braun, the MAPS NCO in charge. Work cages are required for almost every maintenance task in a Minuteman III launch facility's underground launch tube, from replacing components to repairing sump pumps at the base of the tube. The GMMP is an Air Force-specific platform that is purpose-built at Hill AFB from sourced parts. At the launch facility, the GMMP's JOHN TURNER/U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Isaiah Miller operates a guided missile maintenance platform on May 7, 2010, to navigate around a mock-up of a Minuteman III missile at the Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., T-9 launch facility maintenance trainer during a maintenance exercise. Miller is from the 341st Missile Maintenance Squadron. tenance tasks throughout the wing. Maintenance jobs had to be prioritized based on work cage availability. "It pushes everything," said Tech. Sgt. Robert Rich- ards, a MAPS team chief and trainer. "Mission-wise, it pushes the requirements you have of swapping out components or fixing a sump pump or whatever they have you doing out there. You just keep bumping it further down the road. Then those begin to (pile) on one another to the point where, for the other shops, they're swamped trying to play catchup." Staff Sgt. Nathan David, a MAPS team chief, said he and other team members were often called back to work in the evening to repair faulty GMMPs. Some repairs can only be performed by other agencies. For example, because the GMMP is a life-support system, only certified welders can fix damage to metal parts. The 341st Civil Engineer Squadron repairs the baskets and electrical boxes, and the Montana Air National Guard repairs the cast frames. "We only have those two options," David said. "It's not something we're al- lowed to do in our shop." There were occasions when a MAPS technician would be sent to the guard base with a damaged cast frame. The technician had instructions not to come back until the frame was fixed because the need for it was so critical, Braun said. Inspections by MAPS often revealed discrepancies with the GMMP electrical boxes. PREL would then tackle that problem, a labor-intensive procedure if the electrical boxes needed to be taken apart. See MAPS I Page 6 |